The Empty Garden
by Ellias Melbon
Summary: Loki and Jane meet suddenly in a school library. Each discovers that the other may have more to offer than what the eye can see.


**Hello! This is my first fanfiction in a looooooooong time so it is no doubt peppered with ten million billion mistakes. If you come across one, please leave a comment.**

 **Reviews are also greatly appreciated. I drink them like I drink my Starbucks. 'Slurps grossly'**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot**

 **Monday**

Jane first saw him in the library. She was hurting and hiding in the dimmest corner. In her hands was a dogeared, dripping wet astronomy book. He appeared quite suddenly and was about her age.

His black boots were the first thing she saw. Jane's eyes traveled up and up. They ran over black trousers and a dark green jerkin. Her eyes rested on brilliant green

"Hello", the boy said rather stiffly. He brought his hands in front of him and his right fingers tapped a rhythm on the palm of his left.

"Hello. I'm not in a good mood right now. Please leave." Jane turned her eyes down to the damaged cover of her ragged book. She could see them still. They laughed and laughed as they threw her book down the mocked her for always being in the library. They scowled as she scored the best in all her classes. They put bark and mud in her hair.

Five minutes passed. Jane counted the seconds in her head. Tick tock. Tick tock. She raised her eyes again and yet the black boots were still there. They were very shiny and obviously well cared for. There were seven holes through which the laces passed through. Seven on each side.

"Are my shoes really that interesting? You've been staring at them for quite a while now."

The voice was slightly condescending. Still very stiff.

"I told you to leave. I'm having a very very bad day. Come back tomorrow."

"I can't." There was a slight tremor in the haughty voice now. He cleared his throat and regained the affected posh tone. "I've been kicked out."

"So? Go back home. Say sorry and I'm sure your mom will forgive you."

"It's my father, that punishes me, not my mother. And I can't simply _go back home_. I'm trapped here, in this filthy Midgardian room until they let me go back. It's not fair." The hand tapping became more erratic.

Jane raised her eyes and blinked when they meet with the boy's. "What do you mean "you're trapped here"? You can't just stay in the library foreverr. The librarian will throw you out. And who are you anyway?"

He chewed his cheek and looked at her, the cold exterior dissolving slightly. "Kicked out? I'm certainly not afraid being removed by some silly mortal."

Jane frowned and stared at the floor. He was so much like the boys that pulled her hair. So much like the children that had wetted her book. He had called her a mortal. Like he wasn't! Jane had always had one solution to those types of people. She shut her eyes and concentrated. Think happy thoughts.

Tick tock went the clock. The boy became more audacious and nudged her knee with his shiny booted foot. "How dare you fall asleep in front of me! Do you not know who I am? Hello, there! Speak to me!"

The boy kept on talking and Jane buried herself further away. Think about Math. What did we learn there today? Do the multiplication tables. 13 times 13 equals one hundred and sixty nine. Jane heard the boy still, very faintly. He was just like the others, just a bit better dressed. She got up and slowly opened her eyes, numbers still running through her head. The boy of course, got in her way but she swiftly stepped around him like he didn't exist. He didn't exist because her mom had told her that bullies were only your worst fears personified with a human form. He didn't exist because he didn't deserve to. Jane wound around the tall bookshelves and raised her hand to say goodbye to the elderly librarian. The door swung shut and the librarian continued organizing books at the front desk, oblivious to the slim boy that stood at the door

 **Tuesday**

Jane came back to the library the next day after school. She went to the corner again and took out a new book called "The Giver". She had just flipped to the first page before the book was taken from her fingertips. She opened her mouth in protest before seeing that it was the same boy from yesterday. He produced a leather satchel and slipped the book within its confines. He then did a little flicking motion with his hands and the bag, book and all disappeared into nothingness.

"Give me back my book." Jane held out her hand.

"Apologize."

"What for? Not to you, right? Now give it. I have a test on it tomorrow." Jane's mind was whirling. The boy had made the book disappear. It simply vanished out of plain sight. That violated every single law of physics she had read upon in textbooks. She ached to ask him about it but he was just so exceptionally stuck up! There was a huge possibility that he would refuse to answer or ask for something in return.

"You ignored me yesterday. You turned your back upon me and closed the door in my face. I had to stay and sleep on the ground in this horrid place."

How dare he accuse her of doing that! Jane longed to slap that arrogant, mean face. "You were being annoying and disrespectful. Haven't you heard of the phrase 'treat others the way you want to be treated'? The only reason I haven't left yet is because you have my book. And I don't even know your name yet! Shouldn't that be common courtesy to introduce yourself first before you begin irritating people and stealing their stuff? Or better, not stealing at all? But I've forgotten, you didn't learn courtesy by the way you're acting to me." Jane stood up, her chest heaving from the pent up emotion inside. "Remember that book I had yesterday? Some children got it wet yesterday by stuffing it down the toilet. And you act just like them! With that god awful princely attitude and those rich clothes that could probably buy my school lunches for as long as I'm in school." Jane stamped her foot and immediately blushed a beet red from such an immature action. She could feel angry tears forming at the corners of her eyes and wiped them furiously with her shirt sleeve. "I'd rather _die_ than give you an apology. Give me the book!"

"Oh dear, what a temper! Do you intend to make me afraid?" He laughed and thumbed his nose.

"I don't care about you. I just want my book back!"

The boy stopped laughing and his smile dropped. An unbearable agony flashed through his eyes and he shook his head like he was trying to get rid of something. He clenched his fists. Then the boy flicked his hand again and the satchel appeared. He pulled out "The Giver" and handed it to her. His eyes were lowered and Jane snatched it from his fingers. She made for the library entrance but not without hearing the boy's distant voice.

"My name is Loki, Loki of Asgard to be specific."

The door swung shut and Jane hurried down the stairs, shoving the book in her backpack as she went. She was bewildered by his sudden change in mood. One moment he was a mocking dunce and the other he was a repentant boy. Jane turned her thoughts to other things instead. She had left too early today. The boys would still be walking home and she'd have to take the long route home to avoid getting muddy. The wind tugged at her jacket and hair as she walked to the back entrance of the school.

Loki stood in the back corner. The book tender shut off the lights and the door closed but he didn't notice.

Loki had his eyes shut and twisted and turned within his memory cage. He remembered the day perfectly. Loki had been in his room, arranging his books. He valued them more than anything he owned. Thor and his faithful companion Volstagg charged into the room, shouting insults and expletives that if mother or father had heard, would have resulted a vigorous beating.

But mother wasn't there and father was attending guests from Alfheim. Loki watched quietly as they ransacked his room, abusing its cleanliness. And then Volstagg had grasped Loki's most treasured possesion, 'The Book of Eternity', given to Loki on his 100th birthday. Volstagg had held it high above his head, with a meaty hand, taunting the youngest on his slim and short stature.

And Loki had said, "I don't care! I just want my book back!"'.

 **Wednesday**

Jane stood outside the library and debated entering. One irritating boy verses several jealous children. Her fingers wrapped around the cold handle and she pulled the door open. She looked around. The tables and chairs were empty as they usually were. No one usually stayed after school except for her. The rest of her classmates went home to a steaming cup of hot chocolate, cookies and parents who would ask them how their day went, if they made any new friends. Jane smiled at the librarian before heading to the corner, anticipating the eventual clash of wills between her and the boy...no, Loki of Asgard was his title. What an odd name. She rounded the final bookshelf to see the boy sitting next to her designated spot, seemingly engrossed in a large book. Her eyes traveled to the corner that she sat in and found the ground covered in a thick blanket. Pillows cushioned the hard wall. Jane stopped next to him, her eyes wide. Loki tilted up his head and blinked in shock. He hastily scrambled to his feet and bowed.

"May I take your bag?" He was the image of courtesy, left hand behind his back and right hand extended to take her backpack.

Jane rubbed her eyes, even more stunned then she was yesterday at the transformation of the arrogant boy of one day ago and the polite one the next. Mistrust filtered through her thoughts. Where had he procured the blanket and the pillows when she had heard him say yesterday that he couldn't leave the building?

"No, you can't." Jane sat down on the other side of the plush green bedding and made to ignore him, mind still reeling at the abrupt change in temperament. She riffled through her things and pulled out the science homework she had yet to complete. Jane finished the first five problems before she heard another sound from Loki.

"I apologize for the events of the previous day and the day before. My behavior was unacceptable and offensive in the highest account. It went against all the etiquette that I had been taught. I do hope you forgive me, lady...I very unfortunately have not been informed of your name."

Jane wished she could plug her ears and deafen the errant noise. Her pencil worked at problem six...seven...eight...nine...

"Please." The voice caught, so subtly that if it hadn't been so quiet in the library she wouldn't of heard it. "I really mean it. One chance, just one chance."

Jane put her pencil on the carpet floor and raised her head. Brown eyes met vivid green. Should she compromise? It would add an extra spark to the dull quiet hours in the library. Should she give him the chance? She wondered if she wasn't making the worst decision in her life. Her mother had warned her of this. Never befriend a bully. You'll become one if you do. Jane swallowed.

"Why me? You seemed so keen yesterday to irritate and anger me. What happened?"

He shrugged uncomfortably. "A rapid change of heart I suppose."

"Well, if you really mean it then...then let's start over." Jane took a deep breath.

"Hello. My name is Jane Foster. What's yours?" She extended a hand to shake and begin their odd little truce.

"I am Prince Loki of Asgard, Pleasure to be of acquaintance." He took her hand and gently brushed his lips on the back.

A tense silence ensued before Jane asked a question that had been fit to burst from her mouth. "You made that bag disappear yesterday. You violated every single law of physics. How?"

Loki ran a hand over his hair and drummed his fingertips as he tried to formulate a response that the Midgardian could comprehend. "There are tiny, tiny spaces in the air. Rips in the fabric of space and time. You can widen them just enough to slip things through. When you need the object you can simply widen the gaps and take what you put in."

"What's it called?" Jane inquired.

"Magic."

Jane scoffed. "Magic doesn't exist."

"Oh really? Then what you call everything that you have yet to understand?"

Jane frowned, chewed her lip and asked her next question, putting aside that discussion for later on. "What happens if you move? Do the spaces move with you?"

"They do. I'm not certain how it is done but once you place an object in a gap it follows you around. Almost like how positive attracts negative. The emotions you have toward the object keep it connected to you. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the connection. If, however, the connection is too weak, the object will detach and chances are, you will never find it again."

Jane's eyes widened as she tried to process the information. "Can I do this?" She tried flicking her wrist to no avail.

"I doubt it. I've never met a Midgardian with my ability. I wager that many of those in Asgard may not be capable of this." Loki watched the misunderstanding grow on her face and tried to elaborate. "Have you ever been taught of the branch of Norse mythology?"

Jane chewed on her bottom lip. "Yggdrasil, Odin, Thor, the nine realms?",she said hesitantly.

"All the gods you learned about and Yggdrasil and Valhalla. All of it is real." Loki said this with a completely open face.

"Alright. I guess the Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause are real after all." Jane raised her eyebrows and Loki stared back blankly.

She smiled mirthlessly. "They're figments of imagination that make wishes come true. They don't exist." ,Jane said with a hard mocking tone.

"Then explain how I made your book disappear. Explain why the book tender never seems to greet me. Explain why she hasn't heard us speaking. Explain why her eyes slide over us when you are with me, almost as if we are not here. I know you've seen it." This happened every single time with the Midgardians. So ignorant and stubborn in their tepid imaginations. Loki had thought that it would've been different with the children. The only beings on this cold hard rock that possessed even the slightest amount of curiosity.

"Well, what if I haven't? Because gods can't be real. They just can't. I haven't believed in Santa for a long long time. And I won't ever again." Jane's eyes flashed and her face reddened.

Loki flew to his feet, a furious passion running through his veins. He hardly knew this girl, had only been told her name today. Yet he desperately, more than anything else, wanted to make her believe. He wanted to see the bright eyed girl that had been asking him about magic a few minutes ago. He wanted to show her the most beautiful things.

Loki took long strides to Jane's side and took her hand. Oblivious to her cries of shock and fear, he shut his eyes and felt for the little bumps in the air just like what he had read in his books and tried to find the largest one. Loki strung strands of his magic to the edges and pulled. The crack widened and widened; with Jane held tightly in one hand, Loki stepped into the crevasse.

It was a cold that Jane had never felt before and a blackness that Jane hoped she would never see again. The chill bit into her skin and her bones, it bared her soul to the darkness. And then it was over. Jane blinked and found herself in a large bedroom. Her body warmed instantly for they were standing next to a hearth complete with a roaring fire.

"We...we...teleported. We're in a different place!"

Her pulse rocketed as her eyes searched the rested on a large window that spanned from ceiling to floor. A pure blackness waited outside. She walked the length of the room to get a closer look and gasped.

Jane looked out to see millions and billions of stars, shining coldly in the blackness of space. She looked down and saw Earth, looking just like the pictures she had flipped through so often in the children's astronomy guides. Her eyes widened as a gray object floated past the window. An asteroid. She turned her eyes back to the billions of twinkling stars. They glinted like jewels in a cold dark lake, lighting the horizon. Jane's eyes moved to the nebulae that dotted the horizon and tried to classify each as an emission, dark and reflective. She and her mother used to sit on the front porch in the large Adirondack chairs and classify each star during the summer nights. Jane would ask question upon question. 'What's that mommy? Look at those stars mommy! Is it a const...consalla...consellaton?' She could never pronounce constellation correctly and still had trouble with it even though she was ten and a big girl. Her mom would respond with a sweet voice and explain each idea slowly, pausing frequently just in case her daughter had more questions.

Jane sat on the carpeted floor and stared out the window. "You're a real god then? All the gods are real then?", she said breathlessly.

Loki gave no response and Jane turned around, ripping her eyes from the scene with some difficulty to look at him. She found him standing in the back of the room, watching the window with unfocused eyes. He had one hand braced on the side of a wooden dresser.

"Your highness, Prince Loki of Asgard."

Loki blinked and refocused his eyes on Jane. No one had called him by his full title for years. It was always, 'Your highness, 'Prince Thor of Asgard'. They all commended Thor for his fantastic feats of strength. How Thor wielded the hammer Mjolnir with such grace and power. How Thor could fight a legion of men at the age of one century! Thor had been a mewling babe at the one century mark! Jane's next words ripped him from his reverie.

"You gods are lazy, good-for-nothing pigs." Jane's face was a blank mask and she proceeded to speak in a dull eerily quiet voice.

"Where were your gods when we had the world wars? What about the kids getting sick and dying every day? They starve to death while you feast on banquets in your great halls. Your gods sit, and watch and...and do nothing. I've never seen them do anything for us. They never granted my wishes or those of the millions that suffer. If you are the god that you say you are, why don't you do anything?"

A deafening silence filled the void after Jane finished speaking. She had never raised her voice once but Loki would have prefered it a thousand times more if she had. There was no anger, only a bleak hopelessness within her brown eyes. Jane turned back to the window and resumed gazing out into space. She raised her hand and rubbed at them, expecting tears but none came. All Jane felt was a most peculiar feeling of numbness as she watched Earth spin on its axis far far below.

At the front desk, the librarian regained her nerves after seeing a brilliant green light before condemning it to a trick of the mind and the aging eyes.. On the sidewalks the bullies pushed kids around. Midgard spun and the nine worlds continued to coexist. In Asgard, within the royal palace, the all father sunk deep within the Odinsleep. Billions of lives flickered before his eyes and Jane's was among the many. Odin's mind dwelt upon that life for a mere second before the images flickered on. Jane the mortal and her family passed from the mind of the aging god.

"Does poetry suit you?", Loki asked after an extensive silence. "Have you ever endeavoured to write any?"

Jane nibbled on her lip. Why was he not retaliating? She had insulted him in the worst possible way. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she responded. "I'm not that good at it."

Loki continued, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she had spewed very harsh words out of her mouth not only a few minutes ago. "Well, there is an old bard that lives in the mountains of Asgard and he only comes to the palace once every winter. But every year, he brings the most wonderful stories. I have a book of all of those that I've written down." Loki walked to the bookshelf before removing a large ornately bound cyan book. He set the tome on the four poster bed before looking at Jane. "Come on then. You sit on the floor far too often, the bed will make you warm."

Jane stayed on the floor and frowned obstinately, still having not got over the fact that the gods had done nothing for the past millennia and that Loki hadn't retaliated with a sharp, biting insult of his own.

"If you sit there for any longer I'll come and carry you myself.", Loki threatened with a small smile.

"I won't be able to see the stars if I'm on the bed." Jane pouted.

"Really? Is that all?" Loki waved his hand casually and all four walls fell away to be replaced by glass. He smirked when Jane gave a little shriek. "I can make the whole room like so if you wish, Lady Jane."

Jane got up and hurried to the bed and climbed on. She sat in the center uncomfortably before Loki beckoned her to the headboard. As soon as both children were comfortably situated(not without considerable pushing and shoving of course), Loki opened the book and flipped to a page with an ornate drawing of a beautiful crystal ring.

"This was my favorite story." And then he began with no further ado. "Deep within the farthest depths of Hel and perhaps even further down lives the great serpent Nidhogg that chews upon the roots of the great world tree. All is darkness where the serpent dwells except for a beautiful crystal ring that was thought to bring light to the wearer and cure all malady..."

Loki proceeded to speak of a trio of men from Vanaheim that were sent to retrieve the ring for their elderly king who was stricken with a terrible disease that made everything he touched burn and turn to ash. After embarking on the perilous journey that would take the life of one of the trio the men obtain the ring only to face the temptation of keeping it for themselves to ensure everlasting prosperity and good health for their family. The elder succumbs and takes the ring from the younger after slitting his throat. A terrible fate befalls him while still in the depths of Hel and he discovers that the ring is only a worthless piece of rock. He loses his way and his soul is condemned for the rest of eternity. The younger has attracted the attention of the goddess Frigg who rescues the lad, nurses him back to health, saves the king and gives the youngest a place in the high court of Asgard.

"And Frigg welded her magic and cured all malady on the realm Vanaheim. The soul of the fallen warrior still roams the fires of Hel, forever searching for the crystal ring.", Loki finished.

"That was amazing." Jane murmured at his side. "So was Frigg watching the whole time? Is the king still alive today?"

"I suppose that she was told of the circumstances by the Allfather and sent to cure the sickness. I do not know if the king is even real. It is only a story after all."

"Can you explain to me where Vanaheim is?"

Loki snapped his fingers and a piece of parchment and a fountain pen appeared in his hand. At the top of the page he drew a circle and inside, in thin slanted cursive script he penned 'Asgard'. "In Asgard live the Aesir, the gods. I believe we mentioned this before but Odin, the Allfather, rules over this realm." Loki's hand moved further down and he drew another circle in which he wrote 'Alfheim'. "Father used to bring us here many times. Alfheim is the realm of the light elves and ruled over by Freyr, god of abundance and prosperity." Loki's eyes took on a wistful glaze. "I believe that this realm is the most beautiful of all nine realms. The very ground glows with an ethereal light and the air has a sweet note."

Jane watched him with fascination. "Do you think I could go there someday?:

Loki laughed at this. "Perhaps you will."

His pen set to work again, drawing a circle adjacent to Alfheim and labeled it 'Vanaheim'. His expression soured somewhat. "Within Vanaheim live the lower gods and goddess. They do not...appreciate me very much."

Loki moved down the page again and drew 'Midgard' in the center. "This is where you live."

'Svartalfheim' lay to the left of Midgard. "The land of the black elves, or dwarves if you so chose to call them. A very unpleasant group of creatures." His lips curled with disgust.

And 'Jotunheim' lay to the right. "This is the realm of the frost giants. Blue skinned, brute things led by Thrym. Asgard has never been on good terms with them."

The pen moved down and wrote 'Muspelheim' to the left and 'Niflheim' to the right. The former was the realm of the fire giants and the latter was the realm of all things cold and dark and always shrouded by a thick layer of mist and fog. Helheim was much the same, a cold and dark realm for all the dead that did not meet their ends in battle. As for those that did perish honorably in battle, they went to Valhalla, an enormous hall within Asgard that Odin ruled over and no living Asgardian could enter.

"And now you must entertain me with some fabulous tale, Lady Jane."

Jane blinked owlishly, mind still within the depths of Yggdrasil. "I don't have...Well there was one poem that my dad read to me as a bedtime story. I'm not sure who wrote it though."

Loki nodded and beckoned her to go on.

Jane delved deep into her memory as she recalled the old poem.

There was once an empty garden

Within a beautiful city

Its walls were grey and bleak

Its dirt floor was dry and hard

And it had only a single dim sun

It lived next to many other gardens

Who all bore flowers and suns of every color

Yet this garden had none

The city tried and tried to make flowers grow

Upon the cold floor

But all the daffodils, tulips and daisies

Turned down their pretty heads

And their beauty dimmed

One day a strange white rose was put within the garden

And while all others withered, the rose trembled and wavered

Yet It stood tall

The rose stood for five nights and days

Its petals sung sweet arias

And with each melody, the garden's cold walls began to melt

But with each melody the petals of the rose began to wither

One by one

For it had become weak and delicate

The garden's bleakness washed down the walls

It covered the the hard ground

It cleaned the grime and decay

It covered the rose

And it all sunk down into the earth

The garden grew flowers

And suns shone brilliance upon them

The flowers were much more beautiful than the rose

Their petals shone and their scent bewitched

They all sang sweet songs

The garden bore hundreds and hundreds of flowers

But it only listened to one

For the rose still sang quietly

Its voice sweet and innocent

The rose sang for the flowers

For the suns

And for the empty garden

From within the earth

All was quiet after Jane finished the poem. She looked at the boy next to her and his eyes were unfocused. He blinked and smiled at her.

"That was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard."

Jane pursed her lips suspiciously and Loki laughed. "Really, it was a poem of exceptional caliber."

Jane smiled but Loki felt an inexplicable raw pain in her pretty brown eyes. She swung her feet off the edge of the bed and jumped down. Loki felt the warmth of her body leave him as sharply as a deep wound.

"I'd like to go home now. It's probably really late and Erik's going to be worried." Jane tucked her hands in her pockets and gazed out of the window. Loki left the bed and walked over to take her hand. He felt for the cracks and pulled them open, tightening his grip on Jane. His foot moved in the familiar sideways step and they entered into the cold blackness.

They landed in the library and Jane smiled again. "See you tomorrow?"

"Until tomorrow, Lady Jane." Loki bowed

Jane left the library and stepped out into the cold wind. She dodged puddles on the sidewalk and watched cars pass by on the road. She tried to keep her mind off her mommy and her daddy. And she certainly did not think about Loki and how she had felt so comfortable with him today and how much it had changed from the bickering of the day before. She did not think about how when he read his story she felt exactly like when she was five and curled next to her parents, flipping through picture books together. The room in space certainly did not feel like home.

Jane opened the door of Erik's house and called out a greeting. The aging man walked into the kitchen and smiled at her while inquiring how the day had gone. Jane said that it had been fine. She went to her room and finished the homework due the following day. She walked to the dinner table to eat chicken soup and watched the evening news. She took a hot shower and said good night. And then the within the darkness that reminded her all too much of stepping into the cracks of the universe with Loki, Jane cried, muffling her wails in the bed sheets. She cried for her parents and for the mean children and for herself. She didn't understand how she had begun to like the other boy so much.

 **Thursday**

Jane went against every rule of safety she had in her mind and went into the library again. Yesterday had changed her, for the better or the worse she did not know. Loki stood by the door today and greeted her. The librarian, Mrs. Plum, didn't bat an eye at the strange god and the girl. Indeed, Jane wasn't sure if Mrs. Plum could see them at all.

"She can't see us." Loki confirmed her thoughts helpfully. "I've shielded us from her."

Jane opened her mouth to ask a question and Loki put a finger against her lips. His digit was cool to the touch and Jane froze. "Would you like me to escort you to the room first?"

Jane nodded and Loki took initiative. He held her hand and today, Jane held his back.

They were on the bed again, curled up against the headboard. Jane gazed at the stars and Loki flipped through his book.

"Tell me about why you're stuck in the library. Tell me about your family and Asgard. What's it like there?"

Loki tapped a rhythm on his left palm and cleared his throat. "Well, you know about Thor of course?"

Jane nodded and Loki's smile turned bitter. "I could almost say that Yggdrasil exists for my brother's pleasure. Even the ignorant Midgardians know about him. Thor and his mighty hammer. Did your classes teach you about me then?"

She nodded and furrowed her brow as she tried to remember the details. "You're the god of mischief and trickery and lies, brother of Thor..." Jane paused. She felt like there was something important about his family history as well. It was something...it was...it was remarkably important and she had learned it three years ago. She remembered feeling terrible when she had learned about it but now, Jane simply couldn't remember. She did a mental shrug and asked her final question. "Did you really have all those children?"

Loki snorted. "Do I look like I can? The last time I came to Midgard was a few centuries ago and Midgard was much more primitive. Although I can't comprehend how their minds made me the father of Hel, a horse and a wide assortment of other creatures. The other's do exist of course but they were all created at the Beginning of creation and time. When the Allfather came into being. But I have not answered your question yet."

Loki paused and the tapping grew more insistent. He stopped the insistent drumming and began twisting his fingers together nervously. Had his silver tongue turned to lead? This was a Midgardian, an insignificant mortal he was speaking to. Loki, god of mischief and lies had no excuse to be nervous.

Jane's curiosity spiked. What could the god of lies be uncomfortable speaking about?

"I tried to steal Thor's hammer." Loki's face turned a brilliant shade of red.

Jane blinked. "All right then."

"You do not comprehend me. Thor's hammer can only be wielded by those who are worthy. Of course, Thor is incredibly worthy on the battlefield. And the only things that find me worthy are books."

Loki paused, whether to overcome his embarrassment or give Jane time to comprehend some deeper meaning Jane did not know. "So? You're a god. Of course you're _worthy."_

"No Jane, you still do not comprehend. To be worthy you must be honorable, powerful, noble, selfless and many more characteristics that surely you know I do not possess."

Jane giggled at this. "What happens if you're not worthy? Does the hammer knock you to pieces?"

"Not quite that. You will not have the ability to pick it up. Anyhow, I tried to pick it up and put it away within the cracks and I suppose I tried too much. I pulled myself and the hammer into the spaces. I'm not sure why the hammer attached itself so firmly to my hand but there it was and we were in that bitter cold. I tried to get back in the palace but the hammer simply would not move so I was stranded there for days trapped halfway between the palace and the void in Thor's bedroom because Thor, father, and mother _had_ to have been gone for seven days for the Spring carnival."

"Why didn't you...?"

"I dislike attention and watching my brother get most of it." Loki paused, awaiting more inquiries and then he hurried on. "When they came back, Father made me take Thor into the void to retrieve his weapon and I got into plenty of trouble. He said that I was to be locked in my room for five days and nights. During the first two days, I found a book that described the process of displacing a large area. My original intent was to travel to Alfheim but I must of miscalculated and landed here. With Midgard so close it was inevitable that I would try to travel there but something had to have gone wrong again for me to have gotten to a place where I couldn't leave. That awful library with the dullest books I have ever found." Loki took a large breath. His face still felt hot from describing his mistakes not one not two but three times. He twisted his fingers tightly together and coughed.

"I'm so sorry."

Loki turned toward Jane with a quizzical expression on his face.

"Well, it's obvious that it's your father's fault isn't it? He should have never left you in the palace alone and he should've never put you alone within a room with books." Jane smiled. "Terrible things happen to you when you have no one to care for you."

Loki, inexplicably, felt angry when he heard that. Perhaps it was the pity in her tone? Perhaps it was the shame of speaking about his own missteps? Perhaps it was the shame that Thor would be more liked, be better than him, be king of Asgard for all of eternity? The words tumbled out of his mouth and he regretted them as soon as they did. "How would you know? No doubt you are Thor in your family. Center of your world! What must that feel like, to pity others but never have others pity you!"

At first, Jane heard the words and felt a cold emptiness. The calm before the storm. Then the feelings came, everything she had tried to suppress for Loki's sake, the sorrow and anger and bitterness came out more fiercely than ever. The porcelain glass of their fragile friendship fell and shattered

Jane leapt off the bed and faced the bed. "You don't know anything do you? Always bitter and jealous. I thought you had changed yesterday but of course my hopes were too high. Do you know when Christmas Day is?" Jane didn't wait for a response. "It's a day when Santa Claus, who some call a god, bring us mortals our greatest wish. My parents were killed that day, while I was sitting in my room waiting for them to bring back my present. They died because of me. If I hadn't needed that stupid silly astronomy book so badly they would still be here, alive. It was all my fault. And all _you_ seem to care about is your silly rivalry with your brother and how you don't fight as good as him or something. I don't think you're worthy of being a god or holding Thor's hammer. I don't think you're worthy of anything!" Jane turned around and looked at the view of the universe and sobbed. Harder than at her parents funeral, harder than ever before. She ached to just leave this room, leave Loki and slam the door as hard as she could. How could she have even started speaking with such a spiteful boy, a boy that resembled everything her parents didn't want her to be?

The memories came, fast and violent. Her mother rocking her to sleep after she had come home dripping mud because of the schoolyard children. Reading to her about the mysteries of the universe. Her father taking her to the Rocky mountains and snuggling up to him within the cold tent. Lazy nights by the fireplace when her father would read from his poem book. Holding her mommy and her daddy's hands on the first day of school. And then the fateful morning when the man in the police uniform knocked on the door. Jane had been playing with her friend Amelia, waiting for her present. It had been raining so hard that Christmas day. The man looked sad and he handed her the Christmas gift, not even wrapped yet. It was called "The Usborne Book of Astronomy and Space". It was dripping wet.

 **Friday**

Jane didn't come back the next day. Loki waited by the door with his hand closed around the handle and ached to pull it open and find her but he couldn't. It was his fifth day, the day when his father would come get him, come rescue him, come imprison him, whichever way he wanted to put it. Dusk fell and Mrs. Plum left and locked the doors. All was quiet.

Loki returned to his room and counted the seconds until midnight. Tick tock. Tick tock.

Epilogue

Jane had passed the weekend with a sensation of numbness. She hadn't gone the long way on Friday. She had walked fast and cut straight through the crowd of snickering boys. She had been doused with mud.

Jane didn't go back to the library for two weeks, fearing the resuscitation of the anger, the loss, the friendship..

It was the day before Christmas break, December 19th, when she dared step through the entrance. She started for her spot but was interrupted by the librarian.

"Jane! I think you might of left this the last time you came." Mrs. Plum handed her a green envelope with 'Jane Foster' written on the cover in thin, elegant, slanted cursive.

Jane furrowed her eyebrows in confusion when she received it. She murmured a quick thank you before hurrying to the back corner. There was no one there and Jane dismissed it. She hadn't really wanted to see him again. Of course she didn't want to tell him about Christmas. Absolutely no way in the universe...

She carefully pulled open the envelope and removed the letter inside. It read as follows:

My dear Lady Jane,

If you are reading this letter, I am back in Asgard. I was sentenced to my room for five days, which conveniently coincides with your father's poem. I understand that there are many feelings flowing through you at this moment, predominantly anger, and acknowledge that you have every right to harbor these emotions. If you wish to do away with this parchment, I'm glad to tell you that this letter will disappear within five minutes of you reading it.

The few days that we have met have been the most enlightening for me and perhaps the most terrible for you. I suppose that I should apologize here, I will profusely until Ragnarok does away with me. I suppose an infinite number of times will never be enough. You, Jane, have done what no other Aesir or other being has done for me. With your every word and laugh, I have felt myself lighten as I shed away the burdens of my past. You have brought solace where no other has brought me. What I have done in return is so terrible as to be compared with Hel. I have stripped you of your dignity, your charm and everything in between. I have buried your light with the filth of mine.

To remedy this, I will make it seem that I have never existed and will never exist. Immediately after the disappearance of this letter you will forget me and all other circumstances that have transcribed involving our interaction. You will find that the boys of this school will stop hurting you and very soon, you will fall in love with a good man that will breathe joy, hope and strength into your life. And I hope until the ending of the universe that you will become the greatest mortal in all Yggdrasil.

Best Regards,

Prince Loki of Asgard

November 28th

FIve minutes later...

Jane blinked and looked down at her lap. Her hands were clenched like she had been holding something and her cheeks felt wet. She looked at her watch and gasped at the time before hurrying out of the library and towards home, Erik, and a delicious pizza dinner. No one bothered her during her walk.

Jane emerged out of her bath and headed to her bedroom, shouting an overly loud Good Night to Erik. As she climbed into bed and reached for the lamp to turn it off, her eyes landed on an object on top of her nightstand. A beautiful white rose.


End file.
